Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 4): Templates part 1

Happy Monday! We are surprisingly well rested as our end of summer camp out on Mt. Rainer was cancelled due to lack of campsites (a water main broke on the primary reservation site, and those patrons (200+) were re-routed to sites like ours that are usually first come first serve). Bummer. Fabulous Spouse still took the kids hiking. Which means that Creative Me had a whole day to craft…and which PA Me really, really wanted to spend in front of the TV… but the POW would not let her.

Fabulous Spouse even returned with a virtual bouquet, as picking wildflowers is illegal (or at least severely frowned upon).

This week we are tackling templates. They may be digital, or they may be the old fashioned plastic kind. To be honest, by the time that Creative Me started scrapping, there were plenty of Jedi friends saying “this is not the template you are looking for”, and so we never really boarded that bandwagon.

However, there are times when you might need a template. Here are two layouts that Creative Me completed this weekend (while the intrepid hikers battled mosquitoes, snow and sun) for the Big Pictures Classes Big Idea Festival.

The words nest and enjoy are png files that were downloadable as templates from the site. While the POW was not savvy enough to figure out how to change the ink color without saving it to the computer, we did do a couple of neat tricks with it. In the first layout we did, we used repositionable adhesive and put the printout on Bazzill cardstock and then cut the word wonder out. On the enjoy, above, OCD Me used an exacto blade and a strait edge to trim around the j and y.

Later this week, we will use Ali Edward’s templates to share our One Little Word (OLW) on September 1st, like the rest of the class. The POW really wants to know…do many of you still have plastic templates, or are many of them digital now?

Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 3): Templates part 2

Ok, so you can see that we have very few templates. There is an alphabet template here somewhere in the scrap room…we just have not seen it since the Inner Hoarder set it aside (definitely with that Tae Bo VHS tape). OCD Me basically has the week off, as the 4 plastic templates that we do have are already stowed in a cropper hopper sleeve. So here is my layout for this week, using templates.

For those of you who are regular readers, you may note that this is not my typical 2 pager. That is because this is the last page in my 2010 album…which means that Creative Me cannot go overboard with the photos at Costco. To be honest between Creative Me and OCD Me, we are totally in awe of those who regularly scrap 1 pager-s. This is hard!!!

Now, templates do not need to be made out of plastic. In January, Creative Me cut butterflies out of cardboard to be templates for a card (link here with how to). Any Chipboard piece can be a template too. However, many templates are plastic, and that makes them reusable for misting!

Today's layout uses a template that the Inner Hoarder talked us into when we were trying to get exactly $50 on an order from twopeasinabucket.com (for the free shipping of course!) from Tattered Angels. It is amazing how using a template and some mists can transform a white page.

Things have been a bit hectic this week. The Valentine’s Day is Monday. However, the school has decided that all Valentine cards are due Friday. Unfortunately, PA Me did not plan ahead very well, and Girl Friday (and therefore Illusive Middle child) wanted to make from scratch Valentines for 25. The POW thought that she could feel a migraine coming on. Creative Me was ecstatic. OCD Me checked out completely. PA Me put it off as long as possible. The Inner Hoarder went shopping (those kids weren’t going to eat through our cardstock! … and Michaels had it on sale).

And with a marathon of markers, we survived…but the Cricut is on strike after cutting over 100 different pieces. They had fun though. And in the end that’s all that counts! (PS- just a little sad that Oldest Child is now in middle school, and therefore has outgrown Valentine’s Day…until he rediscovers girls…but we are OK that he has not rediscovered them –yet!).

As for my award...thanks again to Sue, a.k.a Midwestgirl.  Please check out her site (click here).  She is a fabulous photographer and does great layouts!
 
My first under 100 follower blog is Becky: Fourth House on the Right
I love her projects!  They are so much more than just layout and cards!  She has done wall art, containers, picture frames, and so many more creative things that make Creative Me SO jealous!
 
Second is Mrs. Bzb: Mrs. Bzb Creates
Mrs. Bzb creates cards for a charity called Card Cupids.  She sends all he cards she shares to children in hospitals, and to me that is really cool.

I hope you accept!  If you do, just link back to here, and share with 3-5 blogs that you love that have less than 100 followers.
 
The POW is searching for a few more.  We would like to share some international love, but many of the sites that we have discovered have over 100 viewers so far!

Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 3): Templates

This week is Romantic Week at Tuesday Trio. This is not just because they are romantics at heart, and Hallmark sells more cards to people who love each other than are mortal enemies. This is because Monday is Valentine’s Day (or Singles Awareness Day). This is when your significant other spends a car payment on flowers (however, due to allergies, we know that if Fabulous Spouse gets us flowers that we did something naughty and he is trying to kill us…ok, just roses). So, Here is my Design Team Card for Tuesday Trio and Sketch #53.

This week is templates week. How many of us were scrapping when templates were cool? The funny thing is, that just like bellbottoms and leggings, everything old will be new again! Now, templates are a delivery device for misting! As a glimmer mist addict…totally not recovered, but The POW took the charge card away from the Inner Hoarder and Creative Me. No new mists. No templates. The POW has been around the block and knows that those new templates will end up with the old templates...which we are not one hundred percent sure where the Inner Horder put them... collecting dust with the Tae Bo workout VHS cassette that the Inner Hoarder also still has (you know that you have a Tae Bo video somewhere in your house too!).  These are the templates that OCD Me can find, but we think that there is an alphabet one in the scrap room somewhere that the Inner Horder has stashed!

Oh, on a really cool note, Sue, a.k.a. Midwest Girl passed this blog award on to us:

This blog award is for blogs that people love that have under 100 followers.

To accept, link back to the sender (see above).  Passit on to 3-5 deserving bloggers!

By Thursday, I will hope to have mine!

*Infomercial disclaimer: non-blog candy readers skip to comments* For the blog hop, here are the entries that qualify so far by 1) being a follower, and 2) answering the post question:

International Blog Candy

Monday, 31 January 2011: What do you need to organize?
Hilde Janbroers- stamps
Daniella- paper
Arad Dikla-ribbons (does not show up as follower)
Moody-stamps (does not show up as follower)
Sarah-ribbons (does not show up as follower)
Orit-stamps
Ayelet-ribbons
Alma7-paper, stickers, stamps

Friday, 4 February 2011: Do you have a die cut system? Do you use it?
Becky- yes, no
Tammy-yes, yes
Sharla-yes, no
LindaMT-yes, yes
May-chu-yes, yes (does not show up as follower)
Lior-no

Monday, 7 February 2011: What is your favorite farm animal?
Vicki- lambs
Jackie- sheep
This is the last week to enter. If you think that you are a followerer, but are not, you still have one week to register. So, today’s question for a chance at the blog candy: do you have templates that you use?

Finally, here are the other Blog Hoppers drom Tuesday Trio:


Dailly http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/userblog.asp?foldername=daillyg
Chen http://cheniros.blogspot.com/
Orli http://orlishamir.blogspot.com/
Shir http://shir-benovich.blogspot.com/
Zehavit http://zehavitshaked.blogspot.com/
Maya http://mayadahan.blogspot.com/

Organize your Stuff: Week 18 (round 3): Tools & Adhesives Part 2

Here is my layout for the Week:

Used my favorite tool from Tuesday for this one! The Tim Holtz tonic piercer put the glue dots on my Thickers…Creative Me knows that supposedly they have changed, but too many Thickers have fallen off my pages, so now they all get double duty adhesive! Also, I used the piercer to pierce holes for the brads in the middle of the flowers. Page 2 in this 2 page layout was inspired by the Challenge Sketch for January from the 2 Peas Calendar Girls.

Now, drum roll please! Adhesives are finally corralled! It was the wild, wild west here for a while (and not the weird Will Smith movie version with all the strange mechanical inventions). We admit to putting off the inevitable, but PA Me kept saying… I know the perfect solution, so when things calm down, it will only take a minute… so let’s do it later!

The POW is pretty sure that PA Me could have been a Jedi (this is not the droid you are looking for…) except that it take work, dedication, and actually showing up for Jedi class. So, last night, after working at my local scrap book store, OCD Me was all jazzed with organized scrapbook energy and was ready to tackle the probably five minute task of organizing adhesive. (OCD Me gets terribly frustrated by PA Me, because most of the time these tasks are rather simple and not terribly time consuming.)

Step 1: Get hanging basket from old scrap room desk and bring down stairs.

Step 2: Hang basket in Expidit bookcase so that there are 2 levels for adhesives… then realize that the basket is too wide for the space provided.

The POW then spent the better part of an hour moderating between OCD Me who wanted to find a new solution, and PA Me who had thrown in the towel and wanted to get some quality DVR time in with the TV since Fabulous Spouse was out of town. The POW finally put her foot down and reminded PA Me that yes Fabulous Spouse was out of town. That means that the Laundry Fairy was out of town too. So PA Me had a choice. Play with OCD Me and a little glue or do laundry for five. Amazingly, with negotiation skills like that, PA Me had linked arms with OCD Me and the two of them set off to create adhesive order (maybe I am wrong, and it is the POW who is the real Jedi Master).

SO, now adhesives are done, my layout is done, and we are ready for next week-Chipboard on Tuesday! …off to tackle that laundry. Darned missing laundry fairy!

Organize you Stuff Week 22 & 23 (round 2): Dies and templates

Wow it has been a busy week out here in the non scrapbooking part of my Universe! I braved a weekend at the 8th largest Fair in the World-the Puyallup Fair…or so they say (I don’t think that you would make it up for 8th place…for third place maybe) with the three kids and just myself and managed to return with all three kids and nobody grounded, cub scouts, boy scouts, missed girl scouts-oops, the first football game for Oldest Child ever in which he played (to be scrapbooked soon), Fabulous Spouse returned from his trip to Japan, and we have Middle School Open house.

To make it less stressful, I joined a six week layout “Glee Club" at Dixie Pieces. You too can join-tell them Scrappnbee sent you and I get 2 points *smile*! It is a lot of fun. This week is The Beatles. There are several Beatles song titles from which to choose. I chose “Ticket to Ride”. You will have to imagine that my layout is here, as Costco lost my file last night, and the photo machine is down this morning and a tech won’t be at the store to fix it until tomorrow. It is that darned Murphy’s Law thing again. Darned you Murphy!!!

Use the force, and imagine that this is Fair Pictures with a whimsical yellow submarine 1970s-ish flare (that’s how it looks in my mind anyways). I promise to post it before midnight Friday, as that is when this week’s challenge closes.

Oh, also good news to share! My apple tree greeting card won the Layout #33 Challenge at Tuesday Trio (Yeahhh!) The POW is so excited she is virtually doing cartwheels and I think that OCD Me is ready to hit her.

As for the dies and templates… My cricut is the only thing that I have. Fortunately…or un-, I never got into the diecut machines prior to the cricut release. I think that was mostly due to some greater realization by the POW that, at the time, I had a laundry basket and a Rubbermaid bin for all of my scrapbooking storage, and dies and templates would just eat up too much space. Besides, most of my local scrapbook stores had dies if I truly needed it, and I am more a stamper than a die cutter. (Sorry die cut fans). Here is my Cricut Expressions at home in the scrapbook room. The cartridges are tucked away nearby for ease of access as I have not made the leap to a Gypsy yet…someday maybe.